Method of View Synthesis Prediction in 3D Video Coding

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for three-dimensional or multi-view video encoding and decoding using VSP (view synthesis prediction) with uniform sub-block partition are disclosed. For a current texture block comprising multiple partition blocks, the system derives a single partition decision and partitions each partition block of the current texture block into multiples sub-blocks according to the single partition decision. The VSP processing is then applied to each sub-block to derive the inter-view prediction using VSP. The single partition decision is derived using depth samples of the depth block in a reference view.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention claims priority to PCT Patent Application, SerialNo. PCT/CN2013/084849, filed on Oct. 8, 2013, entitled “Methods for ViewSynthesis Prediction”. The PCT Patent Application is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to three-dimensional video coding. Inparticular, the present invention relates optimized methods for viewsynthesis prediction (VSP) in a three-dimensional (3D) coding system.

BACKGROUND AND RELATED ART

Three-dimensional (3D) television has been a technology trend in recentyears that intends to bring viewers sensational viewing experience.Various technologies have been developed to enable 3D viewing and themulti-view video is a key technology for 3DTV application among others.Since all cameras capture the same scene from different viewpoints,multi-view video data contains a large amount of inter-view redundancy.To exploit the inter-view redundancy, 3D coding tools such as viewsynthesized prediction (VSP) have been integrated to conventional3D-HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) or 3D-AVC (Advanced Video Coding)codec.

The basic concept of the VSP in current 3D-HEVC Test Model (3DV-HTM) isillustrated in FIG. 1. VSP locates the reconstructed depth data of thereference view and uses it as virtual depth for the current PU. Atechnique named Neighboring Block Disparity Vector (NBDV) is used tolocate the reconstructed depth data. In FIG. 1, a current predictionunit (PU) (112) in a dependent texture picture (110) is being coded. Adisparity vector (130) of neighboring block (114) of the current block(112) is identified, where the disparity vector (130) points to a block(124) in the reference depth picture (120). The disparity vector (130′)is then used by the current PU (112) to location a correspondingreference depth block (122) in the reference depth picture (120). Thereference depth block (122) is used as the virtual depth block for thecurrent PU (112). Then prediction signals are generated with a disparityvector derived from the virtual depth for each 8×8 partition in the PU.The disparity values derived from the virtual depth block are used tolocate corresponding reference samples in the reference texture picture.For example, three samples in the current texture block (112) are mappedto three samples in the reference texture picture (140) according torespective disparity values as indicated by three arrows (150 a-c). Themapping process is named backward warping.

An adaptive block partitioning for VSP is disclosed by Shimizu, entitledAdaptive block partitioning for VSP in Joint Collaborative Team on 3DVideo Coding Extensions of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG11, 5th Meeting: Vienna, AT, 27 Jul.-2 Aug. 2013, document:JCT3V-E0207). In JCT3V-E0207, each 8×8 block can be partitioned into two8×4 partitions, or two 4×8 partitions independently as depicted in FIG.2 for a 32×32 PU. A determination process is invoked for each 8×8 blockof the PU to select either the 8×4 partition or the 4×8 partitionaccording to

If (vdepth[TL]<vdepth[BR]?0:1)̂ (vdepth[TR]<vdepth[BL]?0:1),

-   -   Use 4×8 partition;

Else,

Use 8×4 partition,

where vdepth[TL], vdepth[BR], vdepth[TR] and vdepth[BL] corresponds tothe depth samples at four corners (i.e., top-left, bottom-right,top-right and bottom-left respectively) of each 8×8 depth block. Thedepth value at top-left is compared to the depth sample at bottom-right(i.e. (vdepth[TL]<vdepth[BR]?0:1)). If vdepth[TL] is smaller thanvdepth[BR], a “0” is assigned to the result and, otherwise, a “1” isassigned to the result. Similarly, the depth value at top-right iscompared to the depth sample at bottom-left (i.e.(vdepth[TR]<vdepth[BL]?0:1)). If vdepth[TR] is smaller than vdepth[BL],a “0” is assigned to the result and, otherwise, a “1” is assigned to theresult. If both results are not the same, 4×8 partition is used.Otherwise, 8×4 partition is used. As shown in the above test procedure,two comparisons, one Exclusive-Or and one test for final value to be “0”or “1” have to be performed.

The adaptive block partition by Shimizu presents two problems. First,the determination process may be invoked many times for a large PU. Forexample, if the PU size is 64×64, the determination process will beinvoked 64 times. Second, the memory access method is irregular for aPU, which is unfriendly to paralleling process.

Accordingly, it is desirable to develop adaptive block partition thatcan adaptively select a block size to improve performance over anon-adaptive system while maintaining regular memory access.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method and apparatus for three-dimensional or multi-view videoencoding and decoding using VSP (view synthesis prediction) with uniformsub-block partition are disclosed. For a current texture blockcomprising multiple partition blocks, embodiments according to thepresent invention derive a single partition decision and partition eachpartition block of the current texture block into multiples sub-blocksaccording to the single partition decision. The VSP processing is thenapplied to each sub-block to derive the inter-view prediction using VSP.

In one embodiment, each partition block is partitioned into multiplessub-blocks horizontally or vertically according to the single partitiondecision. In another embodiment, the partition block is partitioned intosub-blocks having the same size, where each sub-block has sub-blockwidth larger than sub-block height when the single partition decisionhas a first value, and each sub-block has the sub-block width less thanthe sub-block height when the single partition decision has a secondvalue. In yet another embodiment, each partition block is partitionedinto sub-blocks horizontally when the single partition decision has afirst value, and each partition block is partitioned into sub-blocksvertically when the single partition decision has a second value.

According to one embodiment, the single partition decision for thecurrent texture block is derived using four corner depth samples of thedepth block, where the four corner depth samples correspond to aleft-top depth sample, a right-bottom depth sample, a right-top depthsample and a left-bottom depth sample. A first test regarding whetherthe left-top depth sample is larger than the right-bottom depth sampleis performed and a second test regarding whether the right-top depthsample is larger than the left-bottom depth sample is performed. Whenthe first test has the same result as the second test, the singlepartition decision has a first value; and when the first test has adifferent result from the second test, the single partition decision hasa second value.

Alternatively, the single partition decision for the current textureblock can be derived using four centric depth samples of the depthblock, where the four centric depth samples are determined from centerdepth samples of a left part, a right part, a top part and a bottom partof the depth block respectively. The top-bottom absolute difference(UDD) and left-right absolute difference (LRD) are calculated. The UDDcorresponds to absolute difference between the centric depth sample ofthe top part and the centric depth sample of the bottom part, and theLRD corresponds to the absolute difference between the centric depthsample of the left part and the centric depth sample of the right part.When the UDD is larger than the LRD, the single partition decision has afirst value; and when t the UDD is less than the LRD, the singlepartition decision has a second value.

The current texture block may correspond to a texture PU (predictionunit) or a texture CU (coding unit). The current texture block size maybe 64×64, 64×32, 32×64, 32×32, 32×16, 16×32, 16×16, 16×8, or 8×16, andthe partition block size may be 32×32, 16×16 or 8×8. The derived DV canbe determined based on one or more disparity vectors of one or moreneighboring blocks of the current texture block. A flag can betransmitted in a sequence, view, picture, or slice level to indicate VSPtype. When the flag is asserted, the partition block of the currenttexture block is partitioned into multiples sub-blocks according to thesingle partition decision. If the flag is not asserted, each partitionblock of the current texture block is partitioned into multiplessub-blocks according to individual decision.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary view synthesis prediction (VSP) process,where a depth block in the reference view is located and the depthvalues are used to locate the reference samples in the reference viewusing backward warping for inter-view prediction.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of partitioning each 8×8 block in a PUaccording to individual partition decision according to a prior art.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of partitioning each 8×8 block in a PUaccording to a single partition decision for the PU according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of using four corner depth samples toderive the single partition decision for VSP.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a coding systemincorporating sub-block view synthesis prediction (VSP) processaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carryingout the invention. The description is intended for the purpose ofillustrating the general principles of the invention and shall not beconstrued as limitation to the invention. The scope of the invention isbest determined by reference to the appended claims.

As mentioned before, the adaptive block partition disclosed in a priorart by Shimizu presents high complexity issue for large PU size andirregular memory access. Accordingly, a method to determine thepartitions for VSP of a PU is disclosed. FIG. 3 illustrates oneembodiment of the present invention, where the partition is uniform forthe whole PU according to a single partition decision. In the example,the 8×8 blocks of the 32×32 PU are all partitioned into 8×4 sub-blocks(shown in the left side of FIG. 3) or 4×8 sub-blocks(shown in the rightside of FIG. 3). For convenience, the unit of block that is subject tosplitting is referred as a “partition block” in this disclosure.Accordingly, each 8×8 block in the above example is referred as a“partition block”. The current invention is also applicable to otherpartition block sizes. For example, the partition size may alsocorrespond to 32×32 or 16×16. Depending on the partition block size, thepartition may result in sub-block sizes other than 8×4 and 4×8. Forexample, for partition size 32×32, the horizontal splitting may resultin sub-block sizes 32×16, 32×8 (i.e. 4 sub-blocks per partition block),and 32×4 (i.e. 8 sub-blocks per partition block). For partition size16×16, the horizontal splitting may result in sub-block sizes 16×8 and16×4 (i.e. 4 sub-blocks per partition block). For vertical splitting,the partition size 32×32 may result in sub-block sizes 16×32, 8×32 (i.e.4 sub-blocks per partition block), and 4×32 (i.e. 8 sub-blocks perpartition block). Partition size 16×16 may result in sub-block sizes8×16 and 4×16 (i.e. 4 sub-blocks per partition block).

According to the present invention, a single partition decision is madefor a whole prediction unit (PU) or a whole coding unit (CU) instead foreach partition block. This will significantly reduce the requiredoperations associated with partition decision. The single partitiondecision is made based on the virtual depth derived. One embodiment ofthe present invention to perform PU partition for view synthesisprediction (VSP) is illustrated as follows.

-   -   a. First, the Neighboring Block Disparity Vector (NBDV) process        for deriving a DV for the current PU based on neighboring blocks        is used.    -   b. The virtual depth corresponding to the current prediction        unit is obtained from the reconstructed depth of the reference        view by using the NBDV.    -   c. Determining four corner points of the virtual depth        corresponding to the current PU, where the four corner points        are denoted as refDepPels[LT], refDepPels[RB], refDepPels[RT]        and refDepPels[LB] as shown in FIG. 4 for a 16×32 PU.    -   d. Determining horizontal splitting flag, horSplitFlag according        to        horSplitFlag=((refDepPels[LT]>refDepPels[RB])==(refDepPels[RT]>refDepPels[LB])).        When both (refDepPels[LT]>refDepPels[RB]) and        (refDepPels[RT]>refDepPels[LB]) are true or false, horSplitFlag        has a value of “1”. Otherwise, horSplitFlag has a value of “0”.    -   e. Partitioning the current PU into W×H sub-blocks according to        the horizontal splitting flag, horSplitFlag, where W corresponds        to the width of the sub-block and H corresponds to the height of        the sub-block. W equals to 8>>(1-horSplitFlag) and H equals to        8>>horSplitFlag. If horSplitFlag equals to 1, the partition line        for the 8×8 block is in the horizontal direction to result in        8×4 sub-blocks as shown in the left side of FIG. 4. Otherwise,        the partition line for the 8×8 block is in the vertical        direction to result in 4×8 sub-blocks. The particular W and H        derivation shown here is meant to illustrate an example of        sub-block partition. The present invention is applicable to        partition block size larger than 8×8. Furthermore, the above        example only split each partition block into two sub-blocks        horizontally or vertically. The present invention may also split        a partition block into more than two sub-blocks. For example, a        partition block may be partitioned into four or eight sub-blocks        horizontally or vertically according to the single partition        decision.

Finally, for each W×H sub-block, the VSP processing is as follows:

-   -   1. The derived virtual depth is converted into corresponding        disparity vector;    -   2. The predicted data in the reference view is obtained by using        the disparity vector;    -   3. The predicted data from view synthesis prediction is then        used for encoding and decoding of the current PU.

In the above example, a first test is performed regarding whetherrefDepPels[LT] is larger than refDepPels[RB] and a second test isperformed regarding whether refDepPels[RT] is larger thanrefDepPels[LB]. A person skilled in the art may use other similar testto practice the present invention without departing from the spirit ofthe present invention. For example, instead of testing “greater than”,the test can be modified to “less than”, “no less than”, “no greater”,etc. to achieve similar effect. Furthermore, a skilled person may alsouse vertical split flag (verSplitFlag) based on similar tests topractice the present invention.

The single partition decision is based on four corner depth samples inthe above example. However, the present invention may use other depthsamples from the depth block. For example, four centric depth samplesmay be used to derive the single partition decision. The two centricdepth samples are determined from center depth samples of a left partand a right part of the depth block. The other two centric depth samplesare determined from center depth samples of a top part and a bottom partof the depth block. In this case, the top-bottom absolute difference(UDD) is calculated, where UDD corresponds to the absolute differencebetween the centric depth sample of the top part and the centric depthsample of the bottom part. Also, the left-right absolute difference(LRD) is calculated, where LRD corresponds to the absolute differencebetween the centric depth sample of the left part and the centric depthsample of the right part. If UDD is larger than LRD, the singlepartition decision has a first value. In this case, each partition blockmay be partitioned into sub-blocks having the sub-block width largerthan the sub-block height. Otherwise, the single partition decision hasa second value. In this case, each partition block may be partitionedinto sub-blocks having the sub-block width less than the sub-blockheight.

The operations required for a PU partition incorporating an embodimentof the present invention (labelled as “Uniform”) can be substantiallyreduced compared to a conventional approach (labelled as “Anchor”).Table 1 illustrates the comparison for various PU sizes. The operationsrequired for PU partition include comparison (Comp.), Exclusive OR (XOR)and Test for whether the value being zero (Test Zero). As shown in Table1, the operations are significantly reduces particularly for large PUsizes.

TABLE 1 Partition decision Anchor Uniform PU Size Comp. XOR Test ZeroComp. XOR Test Zero 64 × 64 128 64 64 2 1 1 64 × 32 64 32 32 2 1 1 32 ×64 64 32 32 2 1 1 32 × 32 32 16 16 2 1 1 32 × 16 16 8 8 2 1 1 16 × 32 168 8 2 1 1 16 × 16 8 4 4 2 1 1 16 × 8  4 2 2 2 1 1  8 × 16 4 2 2 2 1 1 8× 8 2 1 1 2 1 1 8 × 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 × 8 0 0 0 0 0 0

Furthermore, since the partition is uniform for a whole PU, there is noneed to transmit individual partition flag for each 8×8 block.Therefore, the bitrate associated with the partition flags can besubstantially reduced. Table 2 illustrates the comparison between asystem incorporating an embodiment of the present invention (labelled as“Uniform”) and a conventional approach (labelled as “Anchor”).

TABLE 2 Flags for partition Anchor Uniform PU Size Num. Num. 64 × 64 641 64 × 32 32 1 32 × 64 32 1 32 × 32 16 1 32 × 16 8 1 16 × 32 8 1 16 × 164 1 16 × 8  2 1  8 × 16 2 1 8 × 8 1 1 8 × 4 0 0 4 × 8 0 0

In some embodiments, a VSP type flag can be transmitted in a sequence,view, picture, or slice level to indicate whether the uniform PUpartition according to the present invention is used or conventional PUpartition with individual partition decision is used. When the flag isasserted, the partition block of the current texture block ispartitioned into multiples sub-blocks according to the single partitiondecision. If the flag is not asserted, each partition block of thecurrent texture block is partitioned into multiples sub-blocks accordingto individual decision

As mentioned earlier, the present invention is intended to reducecomplexity as well as to relieve irregular memory access due toconventional 8×8 PU partition for view synthesized prediction (VSP). Theperformance of a 3D video coding system incorporating the uniform PUpartition according to an embodiment of the present invention iscompared to the performance of a conventional system as shown in Table3, where the partition of each 8×8 block for the conventional system isperformed independently and the decision is made individually. Theperformance comparison is based on different sets of test data listed inthe first column. The BD-rate differences are shown for texture picturesin view 1 (video 1) and view 2 (video 2). A negative value in theBD-rate implies that the present invention has a better performance. TheBD-rate measure for the coded video PSNR with video bitrate, the codedvideo PSNR with total bitrate (texture bitrate and depth bitrate), andthe synthesized video PSNR with total bitrate are also shown. As shownin Table 3, there is no performance loss compared to the conventionalsystem. Actually, some minor performance improvement has been noted. Theprocessing times (encoding time, decoding time and rendering time) arealso compared. As shown in Table 3, slight improvement has been noted inall processing times. Accordingly, the system that uses uniform PUpartition for VSP according to one embodiment of the present inventionincurs no performance loss compared to the conventional system whileproviding reduced computational complexity and regular memory access.

TABLE 3 Video Video Synth PSNR/ PSNR/ PSNR/ video total total Enc DecRen Video 0 Video 1 Video 2 bitrate bitrate bitrate time time timeBalloons 0.0% −0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.3% 100.3% 100.1% Kendo 0.0%0.1% −0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 100.6% 99.6% 100.1% NewspaperCC 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.3% 90.1% 100.7% GhostTownFly 0.0% −0.1% −0.2% 0.0%0.0% 0.0% 100.7% 91.2% 99.7% PoznanHall2 0.0% 0.2% −0.2% 0.0% 0.0% −0.1%99.4% 93.6% 98.2% PoznanStreet 0.0% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.2%104.8% 100.5% UndoDancer 0.0% −0.1% −0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.0% 99.6%96.3% Shark 0.0% −0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 100.2% 103.9% 100.4% 1024 ×768 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.8% 96.7% 100.3% 1920 × 1088 0.0%0.1% −0.2% 0.0% 0.0% −0.1% 99.6% 97.3% 98.7% average 0.0% 0.0% −0.1%0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 99.6% 97.0% 99.3%

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a three-dimensionalencoding or decoding system incorporating uniform PU partition accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. The system receives inputdata associated with a current texture block in a dependent view in step510, where the current texture block comprises multiple partitionblocks. For encoding, the input data corresponds to texture data to beencoded. For decoding, the input data corresponds to coded texture datato be decoded. The input data may be retrieved from memory (e.g.,computer memory, buffer (RAM or DRAM) or other media) or from aprocessor. A depth block in a reference view corresponding to thecurrent texture block is located using a derived DV (disparity vectors)as shown in step 520. A single partition decision for the currenttexture block is derived using the depth block as shown in step 530.Each partition block of the current texture block is partitioned intomultiples sub-blocks according to the single partition decision as shownin step 540. Each sub-block is then encoded or decoded using VSP processas shown in the loop consisting of steps 560 through step 590. The loopis initialized by pointing to the first sub-block as shown in step 550.

The flowcharts shown above are intended to illustrate examples 3D ormulti-view coding with uniform partition according to the presentinvention. A person skilled in the art may modify each step, re-arrangesthe steps, split a step, or combine steps to practice the presentinvention without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The above description is presented to enable a person of ordinary skillin the art to practice the present invention as provided in the contextof a particular application and its requirement. Various modificationsto the described embodiments will be apparent to those with skill in theart, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to otherembodiments. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to belimited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures herein disclosed. In the above detailed description, variousspecific details are illustrated in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. Nevertheless, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed.

Embodiment of the present invention as described above may beimplemented in various hardware, software codes, or a combination ofboth. For example, an embodiment of the present invention can be acircuit integrated into a video compression chip or program codeintegrated into video compression software to perform the processingdescribed herein. An embodiment of the present invention may also beprogram code to be executed on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) toperform the processing described herein. The invention may also involvea number of functions to be performed by a computer processor, a digitalsignal processor, a microprocessor, or field programmable gate array(FPGA). These processors can be configured to perform particular tasksaccording to the invention, by executing machine-readable software codeor firmware code that defines the particular methods embodied by theinvention. The software code or firmware code may be developed indifferent programming languages and different formats or styles. Thesoftware code may also be compiled for different target platforms.However, different code formats, styles and languages of software codesand other means of configuring code to perform the tasks in accordancewith the invention will not depart from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom its spirit or essential characteristics. The described examples areto be considered in all respects only as illustrative and notrestrictive. The scope of the invention is therefore, indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changeswhich come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims areto be embraced within their scope.

1. A method for three-dimensional or multi-view video encoding ordecoding using VSP (view synthesis prediction), the method comprising:receiving input data associated with a current texture block in adependent view, wherein the current texture block comprises multiplepartition blocks; locating a depth block in a reference viewcorresponding to the current texture block using a derived DV (disparityvectors); deriving a single partition decision for the current textureblock using the depth block; partitioning each partition block of thecurrent texture block into multiples sub-blocks according to the singlepartition decision; and for each sub-block, determining a correspondingDV based on the depth block; locating prediction data in the referenceview using the corresponding DV; and applying inter-view encoding ordecoding to said each sub-block using the prediction data.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein each partition block is partitioned into multiplessub-blocks horizontally or vertically according to the single partitiondecision.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said multiples sub-blockshave a same size, each sub-block has sub-block width larger thansub-block height when the single partition decision has a first value,and each sub-block has the sub-block width less than the sub-blockheight when the single partition decision has a second value.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each partition block is partitioned into saidmultiples sub-blocks horizontally when the single partition decision hasa first value, and each partition block is partitioned into saidmultiples sub-blocks vertically when the single partition decision has asecond value.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the single partitiondecision for the current texture block is derived using four cornerdepth samples of the depth block, wherein the four corner depth samplescorrespond to a left-top depth sample, a right-bottom depth sample, aright-top depth sample and a left-bottom depth sample.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein a first test regarding whether the left-top depthsample is larger than the right-bottom depth sample is performed and asecond test regarding whether the right-top depth sample is larger thanthe left-bottom depth sample is performed.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein when the first test has a same result as the second test, thesingle partition decision has a first value; and when the first test hasa different result from the second test, the single partition decisionhas a second value.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the singlepartition decision for the current texture block is derived using fourcentric depth samples of the depth block, wherein the four centric depthsamples are determined from center depth samples of a left part, a rightpart, a top part and a bottom part of the depth block respectively. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein top-bottom absolute difference (UDD) andleft-right absolute difference (LRD) are calculated, the UDD correspondsto absolute difference between the centric depth sample of the top partand the centric depth sample of the bottom part, and the LRD correspondsto the absolute difference between the centric depth sample of the leftpart and the centric depth sample of the right part.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein when the UDD is larger than the LRD, the singlepartition decision has a first value; and when t the UDD is less thanthe LRD, the single partition decision has a second value.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the current texture block corresponds to atexture PU (prediction unit) or a texture CU (coding unit).
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the current texture block has a first blocksize selected from a first group consisting of 64×64, 64×32, 32×64,32×32, 32×16, 16×32, 16×16, 16×8, and 8×16, and the partition block hasa second block size selected from a second group consisting of 32×32,16×16 and 8×8.
 13. The method of claim 1, the derived DV is determinedbased on one or more disparity vectors of one or more neighboring blocksof the current texture block.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein a flagis transmitted in a sequence, view, picture, or slice level to indicateVSP type, wherein each partition block of the current texture block ispartitioned into multiples sub-blocks according to the single partitiondecision if the flag is asserted, and each partition block of thecurrent texture block is partitioned into multiples sub-blocks accordingto individual decision if the flag is not asserted.
 15. An apparatus forthree-dimensional or multi-view video encoding or decoding using VSP(view synthesis prediction), the apparatus comprising one or moreelectronic circuits configured to: receive input data associated with acurrent texture block in a dependent view, where the current textureblock comprises multiple partition blocks; locate a depth block in areference view corresponding to the current texture block using aderived DV (disparity vectors); derive a single partition decision forthe current texture block using the depth block; partition eachpartition block of the current texture block into multiples sub-blocksaccording to the single partition decision; and for each sub-block,determine a corresponding DV based on the depth block; locate predictiondata in the reference view using the corresponding DV; and applyinter-view encoding or decoding to said each sub-block using theprediction data.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein each partitionblock is partitioned into multiples sub-blocks horizontally orvertically according to the single partition decision.
 17. The apparatusof claim 15, wherein said multiples sub-blocks have a same size, eachsub-block has sub-block width larger than sub-block height when thesingle partition decision has a first value, and each sub-block has thesub-block width less than the sub-block height when the single partitiondecision has a second value.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein eachpartition block is partitioned into said multiples sub-blockshorizontally when the single partition decision has a first value, andeach partition block is partitioned into said multiples sub-blocksvertically when the single partition decision has a second value. 19.The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the current texture block correspondsto a texture PU (prediction unit) or a texture CU (coding unit).
 20. Theapparatus of claim 15, the derived DV is determined based on one or moredisparity vectors of one or more neighboring blocks of the currenttexture block.